Usopp. Your guts came through and you saved the day. You are a hero by every sense of the word now. A hero to a kingdom who will remember your name. As I was starting the episode I had hoped he’d pull the Joseph Joestar and say it was all according to plan which he totally did, snot, blood and tears trailing down his face. Spiraling into a montage of everyone returning to their old forms and the memories of them returned, chaos has ensued. A decade of enslaving and erasing people from existence has come to an end, we got closure with the people we met like our friend Milo and we saw lovers and friends rejoice. Further, Doflamingo enslaved people from the navy and government officials in the past which means especially bad things for him, and the pirates and animals that were transformed are especially livid. The beauty of turning such powerful people into toys and already making many an ally of the Straw Hats means this isn’t just any revolt. Dressrosa is in complete chaos, the plan went “super well” and there’s one thing on everyone’s mind. That is to take Doflamingo down, as we see flag burning and all.
And yes, we saw smile leave Doflamingo’s face as he heard the news. His old friend Law has initiated an attack that ultimately ended in the kingdom he had built crumbling from under him. There is absolutely nothing that Doffy can do to undo this and that means, like I think Pica’s disappearance is to suggest, that a new plan is necessary as soon as possible which will may denote a third round in this conflict. Law and his friends on the defensive turning the tides. And this tide shift is one that is going to change everything. We already saw the colosseum go into chaos and Fujitora may change who he is targetting. His plan was to keep the populous safe and now that conflict has already begun on this mass scale he will have to do something.
But perhaps most importantly, Kyros is back and his memories hit all of the Riku family hard. As one of the citizens said, “for a decade of my life I was forgotten”. They all know how much he hurt and how much he fought and they cannot help but cry. The ending was an immaculate build up, to make us care for the people and despise Doffy, to take everything from him; freeing the enslaved and tortured, and then to have that beautiful moment. “You’re Kyros, aren’t you?!” with an instant response denoting the neverending loyalty towards Riku, “Yes, sir”! With a swift movement and a roar, Doflamingo’s head comes off to the shock of everyone. This was the moment that I froze up, as everything else was to be expected. I had said to myself, “please end after he stabs Doflamingo”. I was expecting something far smaller than what we got. My first thought was, “he’s not logia, right”!? From there I imagined him pulling his head on with his last bodily functions and stitching it back. That or an alternative is the likely response we will see as no shounen would build up a villain for hundreds of episodes and kill him like that. Yet, I have to imagine a universe where that did happen, where Doflamingo’s kingdom was torn from under him and taken by surprise, the assassination goes as planned. That would be frankly chilling. From there the arc would devolve into the sad chaos of his distraught allies in a clash of forces as they fought for revenge, the last thing they could do. Now, as I said, I don’t believe this could happen and I’m 100% sure nothing like it would, but it’s a fun thought.
Thanks to the Tontatta and Kyros for this brilliant plan and the tools to attempt it, to Franky who fought to a bloody pulp buying time, and Robin and Usopp for working to take Sugar out!!! |